The Chronotope in John Updike‟s Novel The Centaur A thesis submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts By Natalia Georgieva August , 2012 Thesis written by Natalia Georgieva B.A., Ivanovo State University, 2008 M.A., Kent State University, 2012 Approved by, Kevin Floyd , Advisor Robert W. Trogdon , Chair, Department of English Timothy S. Moerland , Dean, College of Arts and Sciences ii TABLE OF CONTENT Introduction………………………………………………………………………… 1 Chapter I. Disclosure of the Dominant Chronotopes………………………………. 9 1. The Leitmotif of Corporality…………………………………………… 9 2. The Leitmotif of Mortality…………………………………………….. 22 3. The Leitmotif of Supervision………………………………………….. 31 Chapter II. Space as a Chronotopic Dimension in The Centaur………………….. 36 1. Micro Spatial Components…………………………………………….. 36 2. Macro Spatial Components……………………………………………. 44 Chapter III. Time as a Chronotopic Dimension…………………………………… 51 1. Biographical Time…………………………………………………. 51 2. Adventure-time……………………………………………………. 56 3. Clocks as Temporal Markers……………………………………… 58 4. Temporal Markers of the Dominant Chronotopes………………… 61 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………… 67 Notes………………………………………………………………………………. 71 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………72 iii Introduction The complexities of narration formed by the shifting point of view, the multiple layers of the plot, and the juxtaposition of mythical and real have been the center of critics‟ attention since the first publication of The Centaur (1963) by John Updike. In his essay “The Necessity of Myth in Updike‟s The Centaur,” Edward P. Vargo mentions that initially critics expressed their concerns regarding the appropriation of myth in the novel, and accused the author of experimenting with the form for the sake of novelty (452). However, when critics do explore the function of mythology in The Centaur, they tend to focus on the characters‟ struggling with the Christian vision of the world and with Peter Caldwell‟s attempt to mythologize the image of his father, George Caldwell. The following analysis attempts at exploring the novel under study by means of Bakhtinian theory that helps to explain the presence of the mythological elements and religious undertones in the novel. According to Bakhtin‟s theory, each genre does not cease to develop throughout the course of history. Developing a new theoretical approach towards literature, Bakhtin paid special attention to the temporal and spatial relationships, which reveal themselves in the terminology appropriated by him. He introduced the concepts of “great time” and “small time,”1 which create an intricate fabric for the development of literature: “Small time (the present day, the recent past, and the foreseeable [desired] future) and great time – infinite and unfinalized dialogue in which no meaning dies” (Bakhtin, “Speech Genres” 1 2 169). This definition reveals Bakhtinian concepts of history and time in which the present always originates from the past. In compliance with his interpretation of the category of time in the process of literary progression, Bakhtin suggested that the concept of “genre” represents temporal relations and ensures the consistency of literary development. According to the theory, genre inhabits and survives time: A genre is always the same and yet not the same, always old and new simultaneously. Genre is reborn and renewed at every new stage in the development of literature and the genre. Therefore even the archaic elements preserved in a genre are not dead but eternally alive; that is archaic elements are capable of renewing themselves. (“Problems” 106) The abovementioned understanding of genre includes the notions of development and re- appropriation, which emphasize the dynamic character of a genre and its inevitable inheritance of its former manifestations. Clearly, genres do not maintain a pure, unchangeable form, but rather tend to intermix and produce new hybrid formations; however, the enclosing, assimilating structure still maintains a recognizable generic appearance. Consequently, in the context of Bakhtinian theory, the novel under study can be understood as a reappropriation of the generic canons and as a revival of archaic elements associated with the introduced myth in the text. While maintaining the inherited novelistic characteristics, The Centaur has to possess a certain degree of novelty as well. While the following research focuses on the peculiarities of the text, it is worth explaining which characteristics form the core of the novelistic genre. According to Bakhtin, heteroglossia, i.e. the coexisting diversity of discourses, serves as an invariable 3 generic quality of a novel. In her article “Dialogism in the Novel and Bakhtin‟s Theory of Culture,” Maria Shvetsova explains that “Bakhtin's conception of the novel is predicated on the idea that the novel is a specific speech genre, itself constituted by numerous speech genres;” moreover, since speech genres exist as an integral part of language “they cannot avoid being the essential structuring force of the novel” (750, 751). Bakhtin argues that the speech genres, formed by “relatively stable types of … utterances,” exist in the spheres of human activities that initiated them (Bakhtin, “Speech Genres” 60). Consequently, the existing modes of speech, the speech genres, constitute the building blocks of literary genres, including the novel. Bakhtin believed that novels reflect the existing “fundamental heteroglossia inherent in actual language” (“The Dialogic Imagination” 327). The diversity of appropriated discourses, i.e. heteroglossia, inevitably includes polarities and contradictions that determine the dialogical nature of the novel. Literary characters serve as the embodiment of the existing “languages;” they acquire specific beliefs while their languages form autonomous unities. Dialogism, associated with the phenomenon of heteroglossia, and the complexity of the novel as a genre are further reinforced by the peculiarities of the employed heteroglossia. Bakhtin argues that the novel “permits the incorporation of various genres, both artistic … and extra-artistic” and such newly introduced genres “usually preserve within the novel their own structural integrity and independence, as well as their own linguistic and stylistic peculiarities” (“The Dialogic Imagination” 320-321). Consequently, the mythological element as an isolated discourse becomes one of the sources of heteroglossia in the novel, the presence 4 of which is necessary for the novelistic genre. In the context of Bakhtinian theory, myth and reality inevitably engage in a dialogue. Bakhtin‟s idea of heteroglossia as the indicator of the novel emphasizes that a novel inevitably represents a dialogue between the linguistic components, points of view, and the imagery. The following research argues that, in the case of The Centaur, the dialogue which occurs between multiple chronotopes of the novel becomes the major peculiarity of the text. The complex relations between the realistic and the mythological parts of the novel come into existence within the limited space of the text and within the compound temporal and spatial dimensions of the fictional world. The following research employs Bakhtinian theory of the chronotope in order to explore the intricate structure of The Centaur. According to Bakhtin, chronotope, literally “time space,” is one of the crucial components of the generic development. The term describes the spatial-temporal relationships within literary texts. Bakhtin depicts the origination of the phenomenon in the following manner: In the literary artistic chronotope, spatial and temporal indicators fuse into one carefully thought-out, concrete whole. Time, as it were, thickens, takes on flesh, becomes artistically visible; likewise, space becomes charged and responsive to the movements of time, plot and history. This intersection of axes and fusion of indicators characterizes the artistic chronotope. (“The Dialogic Imagination” 84) The spatial-temporal indicators constitute an important part of the chronotopic literary analysis. In the interdependent relationship of time and space in the chronotope, time 5 seems to take the dominating position; however, perception of time appears impossible in isolation from the spatial dimensions. Bakhtin claims that the chronotope ensures and protects the wholeness of the text; moreover, “the chronotope is the place where the knots of narrative are tied and untied” (“The Dialogic Imagination” 250). Thus, every part of the literary text is embedded in the intrinsic spatial-temporal relationship; the characters of the literary text and their actions are determined by the chronotope. Providing examples of chronotopic literary analysis, Bakhtin focused mostly on the genre of the novel. In “Speech Genres and Other Late Essays,” he provides a short classification of the novelistic genre based on the ways the image of a protagonist is created. Bakhtin argues that “the principle for formulating the hero figure is related to the particular type of plot, to the particular conception of the world, and to a particular composition of a given novel” (“Speech Genres” 10). The interrelatedness of the abovementioned components becomes the focus of the chronotopic analysis. Since Bakhtin sees his research as a study in progress, his followers make attempts to further develop and explain the terms, which remain open to interpretation. In his attempt to clarify the concept of chronotope and its origin, Bernhard Scholz